Emergency Response Photos

There was an unfortunate accident at our plant you can read about here: <a href="http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130313/NEWS01/303130062/Worker-pinned-by-crane-Evraz-Claymont-Steel" rel="nofollow">Worker Injured at Claymont Steel</a> -- but I have no further comment on the incident other than to say the man will be okay and praise God for that!

We had an incredible response from the local rescue people and I was left very impressed (as I always am) by how well served we are in northern Delaware. These photos show the response and a couple of Fire Chief Anthony Goode (corrected, I had said Alvin... sorry Chief Goode) but I can't show you any of the actual rescue, sorry.

And one that HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the accident! It's dramatic but it's daily life in the steel mill. It's our big melting furnace with a large amount of already molten steel being "charged" with another load of scrap steel to be melted. We have to do it in stages as scrap for the entire amount we melt won't fit in the furnace all at once.

Wowee! I surely wish I knew how to pick camera settings and/or postprocess to get colors like you have in those first 4. The white balance, and overall tonality (and skin tones) are absolutely masterfully handled.

How do you do it?! Do you mind taking a moment to share?

EDIT: Basically, at this point, I'm an unabashed fan of your work. Thanks for sharing with us pedestrians.

Wowee! I surely wish I knew how to pick camera settings and/or postprocess to get colors like you have in those first 4. The white balance, and overall tonality (and skin tones) are absolutely masterfully handled.

How do you do it?! Do you mind taking a moment to share?

EDIT: Basically, at this point, I'm an unabashed fan of your work. Thanks for sharing with us pedestrians.

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Ha ha! I'm a pedestrian as much as you are: self taught amateur. I meet pros from time to time and they are another animal entirely. The "real" pros in my thinking are the guys that make their whole living off of it. I sell some prints and get some shooting gigs from time to time -- but I usually put quotes around "professional" when referring to myself, lol.

I do thank you for the high praise though! :smile:

I am always aiming for something in my shots and that's a "slide film" look. I shoot in RAW and try to get somewhere in a "middle" exposure, or bias it over or under according to the material. I also do bracketing to attempt a photo-realistic HDR merge.

The idea is to get the "digital negative" as close to what you want before you start post processing. They you have the maximum control over your shots. Some say jpg is the way to go, but I'm seldom happy with what any camera gives me -- particularly in difficult light which I'm in routinely, lol. Never the less, a lot of folks ROCK jpg shooting -- I'm just not one of them.

Color is subjective and what you see is what I liked. I use Lightroom 4 for processing and it gives you wonderful control of color using both "brushes" (they have a white balance brush that is very useful) as well as selective saturation by color (with like 8 channels of color from red through magenta).

I had missed your processing thread. Thanks for the link. I'm going to go read that now.

I think I should maybe start spending more time in the processing subforums than in the gear areas, haha!

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Maybe these photos demonstrate that idea to some extent (though I LOVE the gear, lol) -- they are taken with a humble Panasonic LX7 which does not have the best noise, dynamic range, has a small sensor, etc.

Wasn't there a thread here that said, "I bought new clubs but my golf game didn't improve" ? -- lol!

Still, a good camera opens avenues for getting the initial capture that a lesser camera may struggle with. Using the LX7 in the steel mill IS a challenge -- but you know that can be part of the fun!

I have a few of the rescue where you can't identify any of our employees so they are fair game here. This is all I can show though as most pics had our folks in them and I agreed to post no work pics where people can be identified.